


Island in the Sun

by Beryll (Rynthjan)



Series: Sir Yaden [7]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Psychics, Slavery, new home, p2, phoenix empire, slave shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-12
Updated: 2013-03-27
Packaged: 2017-12-05 02:11:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/717662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynthjan/pseuds/Beryll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Sir Yaden's little family growing so rapidly suddenly, a new, more spacious home must be found.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the year 5038 of the Phoenix Empire timeline.

The sun was shining brightly, glittering on the waves that idly ran up the beach. The sand was comfortably warm, and in the shade of the great old illeiya tree, the temperature was just right. It was a calm day in the Empire. 

Calm, of course, was a relative word in the mind of P2 Prime, considering there were constantly more than two trillion sentients within range of his telepathic powers. 

But compared to other days, it WAS a calm day. 

There were no natural disasters or sports events that made thousands of people think the same thing at the same time, creating a psychic volume that reduced him to a whimpering bundle on the floor. Nor was the Psions’ Guild overly busy, just the normal background buzz of a few hundred operators borrowing his powers and connecting calls all through the Empire. 

In the first months of the guild, there had been days where he had been convinced that this job would tear him apart, spread him so thin across the Empire that he would never be able to condense into a proper human again. But every day, his powers had grown, not diminishing him, but increasing him, until there were days where he could power the whole network of the Psions’ Guild and still have some attention to spare for the warm sand underneath his feet. 

Days like this one. 

Squinting up to the sky, P2 Prime smiled softly. When he had still been a child in the slums of Yaiciz, suffering from all the pressure of the minds he constantly heard, he’d never even dreamed of one day being where he was now. A family that loved him dearly, a dashing and rather smitten husband, and a job that helped improve lives all over the Empire, every day. 

Admittedly, he was still not feeling too well around big groups of people, and for Finals Week at the Grand Arena, he had to leave the planet as a precaution. But that was only a pale reminder of the time when he had been unable to block anyone, while his range was increasing not meter by meter, but planet by planet. If Lady Lilith hadn’t found him that day... His life was truly blessed by more than one miracle. 

He was just wondering if maybe he was feeling good enough to get up from his folding chair at the beach and take a little walk as he felt one of the local P2 operators think in his direction. 

\-- What is it, dear? --

\-- Phoenix Knight Yaden is trying to reach you, Prime. He says it’s something he’d have to talk to you about directly. -- came the slightly blurred reply, the words wrapped in images of concentration, excitement and awe. -- He’s thinking about real estate. --

\-- Is he now? --

His curiosity awakened, P2 Prime diverted a fraction of his concentration from the ever-present buzz of the Psions’ Guild. Within less time that it took for a human to blink, he had skimmed the surface memories of every sentient in the system, their knowledge about Sir Yaden pooling in his own mind with dreamlike clarity. Everything that was publicly known was never more than a single thought away from his mind, and he counted his ability to search for a single fact in all the Empires’ minds simultaneously one of his greatest talents. 

\-- Am I to put him through, Prime, or should I tell him to go through the official channels? --

Smiling, P2 Prime realized that his thoughts had been wandering off again. In a spoken conversation, he usually was perfectly able to hide that he was only using a tiny bit of his attention. But telepathic communication was so much faster, so much more acute, that his colleagues sometimes noticed he was a little absent. 

\-- Give me a second, please. -- he replied, once again smiling as the operator couldn’t suppress a surprised reaction. Even to his own colleagues, he was an almost mystical and incomparable creature, and the thought that he needed a moment to decide was startling to them. Others might have been unhappy about this distance he felt to most other psions of the guild. But it was such an incredible improvement to the fear and hatred that had suffused his childhood that P2 Prime couldn’t feel anything but deeply grateful. 

Forcing himself to focus on what he had just learned about Sir Yaden, P2 Prime realized that he already knew him. The name hadn’t really rung a bell with him, but then again, he didn’t care much for names. But the strong visceral petrakinetic who lived and trained in the Phoenix Knight Tower, who occasionally tweaked the weather patterns around the capital when he thought no one would notice, a mind so strong and grounded it almost muted the hysteric buzz of the capital was someone he already knew very well. Someone he liked quite a lot. 

But why in all the Empire would Yaden want to talk to him about real estate?

\-- Please patch him through, dear. -- he thought towards the operator. -- I’ll carry the call from here on. --

The operator sent him the mental image of a crisp salute and handed him the telepathic connection he had been holding with Sir Yaden. Instantly, the constant background noise of P2’s population seemed to recede in the mind of P2 Prime, eclipsed by a mind as calm and large as a mountain range. 

\-- Sir Yaden, -- P2 Prime thought politely, hoping that he was skilled and professional enough not to show how pleasant he found the contact. -- How can I help you? -- 

Before Sir Yaden managed to project a proper word, he had already sent images of gratitude, respect for the hard work P2 Prime was doing and some doubt at the urgency of his mission through their telepathic connection involuntarily. His thoughts were oddly scarce of actual words and instead saturated with images and emotions, but still clean and neatly sorted. 

\-- I am searching for a home for my family, -- Sir Yaden conveyed, together with a steady stream of images of a tasty-smelling and chocolate-eyed man who he adored beyond words, of a small girl with hair of fire and a teenager with a dirty grin, and a tall man who looked somewhat dismayed at the cramped chaos around him. -- And I hoped you could help us. --

\-- Wouldn’t the Admirable Guild of Real Estate Agents be better suited for the task? --

That didn’t even get him a worded reply from Sir Yaden, only a deeply repulsed feeling and a strong intention of never repeating that particular experience. 

\-- We are looking for something here on P2, but something a little... -- Sir Yaden conveyed with obvious concentration, only to break off and hesitate for a heartbeat. 

That alone was a feat P2 Prime hadn’t ever witnessed with anyone but another Prime – calming one’s mind to the point that it appeared silent to a telepath was something that spoke of more willpower than most people could even imagine possessing. But even startled as he already was, the last thing he expected was the stream of images that followed – neatly sorted, clear and strong with so much contextual information attached that it felt like the exchange of tiny pieces of consciousness, a true, holistic telepathic exchange. 

In rapid succession, P2 Prime’s mind filled with images of a cramped apartment in the Imperial Palace, of the deliciously smelling man that Yaden was about to marry, of Yaden’s nanny and his squire and his adopted daughter and all of them suffering in the anthill that was the Imperial Palace in one way or another. Then Yaden presented him a view of P2 the way he saw the planet – a pulsing, living being with a mind of its own, with good days and bad days, and with areas that were nicer to live in for a human than others. And the area that Yaden and the planet agreed on would be perfectly suited for his family was right where P2 Prime had chosen to seek his refuge himself - the archipelagos east of P2’s small equatorial continent, with beautifully warm and reliable weather and a blessed lack of other people around. 

But for a thousand miles around the island P2 Prime inhabited, no island was for sale, and for a very good reason – P2 Prime had bought off all other inhabitants over the years and created a zone of calm around himself. And now Sir Yaden and his family asked to come right into his neighborhood and create their own little nest. 

The whole exchange had taken less time than it took P2 Prime to take in a surprised breath, and suddenly he knew all members of Yaden’s family by name, knew their quirks and character and that Yaden was doing nothing but trying to get the very best for the people he loved. 

It was a notion that P2 Prime could perfectly understand. And yet the thought of having other people so close by, children and strong psions at that, made his skin crawl. 

\-- Sorry I piled all that just onto you, -- Yaden suddenly thought, mostly using proper words this time. -- I hope that wasn’t too impolite. --

\-- It was unexpected, but not unwelcome. It is a very efficient way when conveying information. -- 

Yaden waited for P2 Prime’s answer with baited breath, an emotion that translated into gently humming silence in their connection. The Prime found himself listening to that sound of silence with stunned fascination. 

A mind so strong it could outshine others was a rare thing, and a mind that projected calm reassurance was almost unheard of. 

\-- You know, -- P2 Prime replied after a tiny pause, -- maybe we can work something out. --

\-- That would be wonderful. --

\-- I’d have to make a test or two, but if it works out, I think it’ll be perfect for all of us. -- Intrigued by the idea that was forming in the back of his mind, P2 Prime logged out of the network that was the Psions’ Guild. There were no other telepaths who could possibly carry his bandwidth, but there were enough who could keep the net running for a while at least. And this was fascinating enough to warrant a little bit of backlog. -- Do you have a moment for me? --

Yaden answered with a polite but emphatic affirmation, once again not using any words. 

\-- I’d like to meet you on one of my islands, would that be okay with you? -- 

\-- Sure. --

Sending back a swift confirmation, P2 Prime called his colleagues who in turn ported Sir Yaden to the island he had been thinking about. 

It was a medium-sized island, with sheer cliffs and a rather flat top sloping gently to the west. The former owner had been a rich elderly commoner lady since long before the war, and she had build a large mansion pretty much in the middle of the island. The slope downward to the cliffs had been a terraced park, with ponds and trees and lawns for endless high teas, the rest had been turned into orchards, mostly. But the Lady had died more than a decade ago, and her heirs had gladly accepted the money P2 Prime had offered them instead of a remote property that none of them could really use. 

The house itself was a pompous affair with large windows and ornate stonework that Sir Yaden probably would tear down as soon as he saw it – but that wasn’t the reason that P2 Prime had picked this island. It lay pretty much perfectly between his own island and Imperial City. 

\-- So how do you like it? -- he asked, too polite to scan Sir Yaden’s mind for his impressions. 

\-- It’s pretty overgrown... Didn’t you want to meet me here? --

It took him a full real-time second to understand why Sir Yaden was feeling a little confused. Normal people expected to see the body of a person they were ‘meeting’, a little fact that he occasionally overlooked. But nothing that couldn’t be remedied instantly. 

Again using his contacts in the guild, P2 Prime allowed one of the local operators to port him right next to Sir Yaden. 

“Here I am.” he said, smiling at the fact that right next to the Phoenix Knight, he could hardly hear anything of Imperial City at all. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Sir Yaden.”

“Never mind, I am sure you have a lot more things to do than showing me around.” Sir Yaden smiled cordially, shaking P2 Primes hand. “And Yaden really is totally sufficient.” 

“Sure.” Still feeling a bit out of step at the sudden calm in the back of his mind, Ciel nodded. “Call me Ciel.” 

“Nice to meet you in person, Ciel.” 

“Pleasure is all mine.” 

Yaden was surprisingly short in person for a mind so prominent, Ciel found, but the smile in his face was exactly the way he had expected. 

“This island hasn’t been lived on for more than a decade, now.” Ciel started explaining, leading Yaden up an overgrown path. “But I think it would make a nice home for a family like yours.” 

“I think this is pretty huge for the five of us...”

“Well, considering how fast your family has grown so far, I think it would be wise to have some room left to fill.” Ciel replied with a smirk. Following Yaden’s look at the main mansion, he added: “It’s pretty ugly, isn’t it?”

“It looks like a wedding cake.” Yaden replied. “But it is very well built, as far as I can tell.”

“Good, good. I wouldn’t know the last thing about houses. But the island is in one of the best areas if you look for warm and sunny weather here on P2, and the next proper city is only twenty minutes with a glider - “ Stopping his exposition as he felt Yaden politely smirking inwards, Ciel had to grin as well. “But of course you know that better than I do.” 

Yaden nodded, smiling, his emotions radiating friendly amusement and relaxation to be around someone who was similarly different. Yaden was a fellow Prime, Ciel reminded himself. Not in terms of guild rank, of course, but in terms of power. He had been different than any kids in all his life, too. Powerful and yet helpless in the most simple task of all – being normal. 

Even now, while they walked up a winding gravel path through thickets of overgrown bushes, Yaden was scanning the island through his naked feet, measuring it back and forth with his mind, from the highest pebble to the bedrock down below at the bottom of the ocean. It was nice to be around someone similarly uncontained by his body just like himself, Ciel decided. 

“What are those buildings up ahead?” Yaden asked finally. 

“It’s the original servants’ quarters.” With a sly smile, Ciel added: “It’s where I think you and your family will want to live.” 

Intrigued, Yaden picked up a faster pace and walked around the last bend. 

The servants’ quarters were a cluster of low houses, build out of sight from the mansion in a small valley near the cliffs. The houses were build from massive blocks of the local stone, the low roofs covered in slate, all offering a perfectly natural shelter from the heat of the day. Clustered around an ancient, gnarled olive tree, the houses formed a large, open courtyard in the middle, looking inviting and cozy and earthy. 

Yaden was so smitten by the place that his joy beamed in Ciel’s mind like a sun. 

“This is - perfect!”

“That’s good, very good.” Still smiling, Ciel forced himself to concentrate on what he needed to check before he could allow Yaden to live here. Sometimes, it was hard to remain focused when people around him were so happily excited. “But I need to check something first. When you live here, you will train here, too, yes?”

“Of course. We are looking for a place far away from other people so we can try things without hurting anyone.” 

“That’s what I though.” Hesitating, Ciel added: “Would you mind... doing something? I mean, use your powers?” 

Yaden only shrugged and flicked his hands, a group of pebbles rising from the ground. 

“I meant something big. Something loud. I need to see if it’s going to distract me too much.” Ciel explained apologetically. In truth, he wanted to see if Yaden’s powers reached a level of noise that could hurt him, but he really didn’t want to say that. People tended to be too cautious around him then. 

But Yaden didn’t seem to share such concerns. Planting his feet wider apart, he concentrated for a moment and then gestured with his hands. Ciel could feel the energy flowing through him like a hum in the air, but he didn’t feel any of the noise that he usually associated with psionic powers. If he weren’t getting the impression from Yaden that he was actually moving an underwater boulder the size of a house, he could just as well have been meditating. 

\-- Alright -- Ciel sent to Yaden. -- I’ll swiftly port to my island and see how it sounds from there, if that is all right with you. --

\-- Sure, just tell me what to do. --

It took Ciel only a few seconds, then he was back in the shadow of his Illeiya tree at the beach, right next to his folding chair. Even from this distance, he could feel Yaden working, but it felt like a soft rumble in his mind. 

\-- Can you try something bigger? -- 

\-- How big? --

\-- Really big. --

This time, Yaden only replied with the image of a dirty grin and cracking knuckles. Now fully turning his concentration towards his powers, he gathered himself for a moment, giving Ciel a precious moment to lie down in his folding chair, just as a precaution. 

Yaden seemed to focus his powers on a large area of ocean floor a little off the island, and through his eyes, Ciel witnessed with silent awe how he raised the bedrock bit by bit, meter by meter until it reached the surface, creating a new island the size of a reasonable parking lot. Seeing other psions use large-scale powers never failed to amazed him. 

It was a massive amount of energy that Yaden was expending, and it was distracting and loud and weird to Ciel. But it was not unpleasant or dissonant, all the contrary. It was a clean and sobering noise compared to the constant excited buzz he usually heard from the cities. Even more fascinating, once Yaden had finished raising the new island, the residual resonance of his powers was strong enough to mute the hectic emotions bristling out of Imperial City. It was like a giant smoke screen, or a dam that just kept all the other noise away. 

It felt wonderful.

The thought of having something like this for many years to come made the decision very easy for Ciel. 

\-- You can have it. --

For a moment, Yaden felt confused, then he realized that Ciel had meant exactly what he had thought – Yaden and his family could have the island, just like this, for as long as they pleased, and he didn’t want a single milla for it. 

\-- I can’t take this as a present. -- he finally replied. 

\-- Don’t be mistaken, this is an entirely selfish decision. -- Ciel replied, trying to convey his happiness and excitement. -- I might demand a training session of you and your talented family members at certain times. But if you manage to get me through a season finale of ‘Even Nobles Cry’ without breaking down in tears, I swear to God the Guild will start paying you for priceless services rendered. --

Yaden laughed, his telepathic laugh sounded pretty exactly like his real one. 

\-- I see, I have no say in this. --

\-- Not really. --

\-- I’ll have to ask my family first, though, I can’t decide this without them. --

\-- Of course. -- Hardly able to hide his nefarious smirk, Ciel added: -- Though I think your husband will want to move there rather sooner than later. --

\-- And why do you think so? --

\-- Because there is a wood fired bread baking oven next to the olive tree by the servants’ quarters. --

Even telepathically, Yaden gave a startled laugh, followed by the mental equivalent of a beaming smile and a firm, friendly hug. 

\-- I see I’m outmatched. -- Still laughing, he conveyed that he would go home now and talk to his family. -- To good neighbors. --

\-- To good neighbors. --


	2. Chapter 2

With silent horror, Colin stared at the mansion that sat down the hill like a life sized pink doll house some over-eager child had covered in white frosting. Even the wild overgrowth of rambling roses and other creepers couldn’t distract from the countless balconies, the turrets and canopies and porches and arches and sweeping outdoor staircases. The layout was sure dramatic, but the whole affair had a weirdly staged flavor. It was just too much of basically everything. 

This couldn’t be the house Yaden had been so excited about, Colin decided. There was no way he could have misjudged his lover’s tastes so badly. 

“You said it just needed a little cleanup...” he finally managed to say. “But this looks like I’ll need a lobotomy before I can move in there.” 

“What?” Completely startled, Yaden turned around and looked at Colin first, then following his gaze downhill and at the mansion. “Good Lord, no! That’s the mansion. We can have Darren set up his office there or something. We’re definitely not going to live in that... house.” 

“Okay...” Somewhat relieved, Colin turned his attention back to his fiancé. “So if that doll house there isn’t it – then where ARE we going to live?” 

With a wide, proud smile, Yaden pointed up the hill at their back, an expectant look on his face. Turning around, all Colin could see was a wild jumble of completely overgrown shrubbery and a few young trees. When he arched a questioning eyebrow at his husband, Yaden finally looked up the hill himself, squinting at the scenery. 

“Oh,” he finally said. “You can’t see it from here.” 

“Obviously.” 

Yaden gave him a guilty shrug and a boyish smile that made him look even younger than he was. Colin could have kissed him right there and then. Yaden might be one of the most powerful psions of their generation, and a full proxy of the emperor – and he still was just the charming if slightly naughty guy Colin had fallen in love with barely a year ago. 

Taking up Yaden’s hand, he gave him a tiny kiss on the knuckles. “Come on, show me.” 

Still smiling, Yaden started pulling Colin after him, along a barely visible gravel path that led up the hill in languid curves. 

Yaden had been excited like a small boy when he had shown up a few minutes ago from his house-hunting excursion. Colin had to drop everything there and then and come have a look at this perfect piece of real estate that Yaden promised him he would love. He even had to put his sourdough started back into the fridge, something that would haunt his bread for the next weeks to come. Not that his bread was up to much these days. He was still struggling with the effects of the different climate here on P2, and the yeasts here were acting different than the ones on Leichnam, too. Not that any of this mattered much without a proper oven, anyway. 

Maybe he ought to concentrate on small pastries instead. 

Still following Yaden up the hill, Colin realized how nice the weather was here. In the capital, the constant drizzle had reminded him of home, but not necessarily in a good way. Here, the sun was shining brightly, and it was warm enough to be out in just shorts and a shirt. To sit outside until late at night, drinking wine and talking. Whatever there was to be said about the architecture, his future husband’s taste in climate was impeccable. 

“We’re almost there,” Yaden said suddenly. “Close your eyes.”

Smiling, Colin did as he was told. Yes, it was a bit silly. But it was also quite romantic. 

“Okay.” They stopped, with Yaden sneaking a gentle arm around his lover’s waist. “Now you can look.” 

Opening his eyes again, Colin had to blink twice before he believed what he saw. Nestled into a shallow glen near the highest corner of the island, a group of small, single-storey houses seemed to huddle around a courtyard with a skewed, ancient tree. Built from the local, amber rocks and covered in some sort of slate, they looked weathered, sturdy and incredibly unfussy and welcoming. 

“This is beautiful!” he exclaimed, still startled at the cuteness of the ensemble. It looked like pasted right out of a Shirazan postcard. Though of course, all the tiny rooms in separate tiny houses didn’t look too practical on first sight. “But do you think it’s practical?” Peeking into the first house through an empty window, he added: “There’s just one room per house.”

“Where’s the problem? Each one his own, and we take the largest one for our bedroom and the other large one for the kitchen.” 

“But what in winter, we can’t run around for everything when it’s - “

“This IS winter.” 

“Oh.” Slightly taken aback, Colin eyed the ensemble of houses with new priorities. “But what if it’s raining?” 

“Why would it be raining on MY island when I don’t want it to?” 

He had a point, there, Colin had to concede. Giving a shrug, he walked onto the courtyard, looking up the old tree. 

“We could put a large dining table out here in the shade under the tree,” he finally suggested. “We’ll probably stay outdoors most of the time, anyway.” 

“Yup.” Yaden looked very content. “So you like it?” 

“I think so.” Grinning, Colin walked back to his husband and embraced him. “I like the thought of sharing a place like this with you and our family. Coming from Leichnam, all this sunshine will drive me mad, but I think I’m gonna like it just fine.” 

Yaden chuckled softly, nudging Colin with the tip of his nose. “And you haven’t yet seen the best of it.”

“Really. I wonder what that could be.” 

“Come on, I’ll show you.” 

Again taking Colin by the hand, Yaden led him around the corner of one of the largest buildings. As soon as Colin spotted the large earthen dome behind the corner of the house, his steps became hesitant, almost reverential. 

“You got to be kidding me,” he almost whispered, untangling his hand from Yaden’s. “Is this - “

“A wood-fired bread oven, or something like this, the owner said.” 

Slowly walking up to the oven, Colin could hardly believe his eyes. He had seen his share of proper baking ovens during his journeymanship, and his old oven in Hagermarsh hadn’t been half-bad, either. But this looked like a real beauty, even half-overgrown and neglected as it was. 

Slowly walking around to the half-round oven door, he already felt his fingers itching to get it fired up and learn to work with this handsome fellow. The more he looked, the more he found details that told him someone had put a lot of effort into building this oven, like the way the ash chute was as far away from the oven door as possible, or how the curve of the hatch kept as much heat inside as possible. Who would put so much thought and effort into something like an oven? 

Colin found the answer to this question in a square seal that had been impressed on the wet outer plaster – a moradi craftman’s seal. 

Now finally excited, Colin tried to open the oven door, which proved harder than expected, rusty as it was. But with a little help from Yaden, he managed, and curiously peered inside. 

“Oh my God. Yaden, do you see this?” he said, pointing at the honey-colored stone that made up the oven’s interior, reverentially stroking the faint blue swirls glistening in the material. “Real moradi chamotte.”

“Whatever you say, honey. I take that’s a good thing?” 

“The best.” Suddenly, Colin backed away from the oven. “There is something in there. Some kind of animal. In my oven.” 

Yaden laughed out loud at his fiancé’s indignant tone. “I am sure we’ll get whatever is living in there out of it soon enough.” 

Turning around, Colin faced his lover, his face beaming with excitement. “So we’re really moving here?” 

“Of course.”

“And we can afford this? I mean, a whole island? You remember how little the Emperor pays you, yes?” 

“It’s a gift.”

“A gift? Now you see me worried. No one gives away real estate for free.” 

“P2 Prime does.”

“And what does he want in exchange?” 

“Me and my team making a lot of psychic noise. Occasionally, making that noise when he needs it.”

“I can’t say that makes sense.” Looking back at the oven over his shoulder, Colin amended: “But then again, there was very little in my life that made sense since the day I met you. How fast can we move in?” 

“How fast can you pack?” 

Colin had to smile at the challenge. “Way faster than you can get this cleaned up sufficiently. And I want that beast out of my oven.” 

Now Yaden laughed as well, nodding. “I’ll make sure the local wildlife will stay clear of your property. Will you send me Ivan and Myriam?”

“Sure,” Colin replied with a nod. Looking around, he added: “We will need staff, at least for the beginning. Staff that won’t freak out in a family of over-powerful psions.” 

For long moment, Yaden seemed to be lost in thought, then he smiled again. “Thanks for reminding me, love. I think I just know where to look.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Mrs. Eve?” The edged voice of Mrs. Vonnebeker cut through the din of the laundry room like a knife. “A word.”

With a soundless sigh, Eve put down her wicker basket full of dirty linens and straightened her black gown. This really was the last thing she needed right now. Had anyone been complaining about her again? 

Ignoring the stares from the other servant girls, she forced a polite smile onto her face and walked over to her superior. 

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“In my office.” Not wasting another word, Mrs. Vonnebeker turned around imperiously and left, clearly expecting Eve to follow her immediately. 

And she better should. Not that she had done anything wrong. Her superior was an arrogant prick of a woman, narrow-minded and easily cowed by the patrons of the hotel they were both working for. In Eve’s eyes, that made her entirely unsuited for the task. A household had to be run with a firm hand, not with an irrational, nervous and ill-placed desire to please the masters. 

But unfortunately, she needed this job, and direly so. A widowed woman of her age, with a teenage son and no other family had a hard time finding a job on Espen, especially considering the way she lost her last employment. So working as a laundry girl in a large hotel at the Williamsburg beachfront was something she was genuinely grateful for, even though her vita would have easily qualified her to replace the incompetent Mrs. Vonnebeker. Or the director of this place, for that matter. 

So when they entered Mrs. Vonnebeker’s tiny office on the ground floor, her face was showing nothing but polite interest. 

“The guests on room 45 have complained about your work. Again.” 

“Is that so?” Eve replied, trying very hard to keep her voice calm. “I made their beds as demanded by the hotel guidelines, and it was too tight for them. I made it more loosely, and it was too flabby. So what’s it now? That is wasn’t made following the guidelines?”

“Don’t you get smart with me.” Mrs. Vonnebeker snapped. “Your job is to do what our customers want, not to think.”

Eve was already taking a deep breath to hand out a sharp retort as a firm knock on the door saved her in the very last moment. 

It was John, the chauffeur, holding his hat in one hand and a rather bedraggled looking boy with his other. 

“Oh my God, Dominic!” Eve exclaimed, recognizing her son. “What happened?” 

“Good day, Mrs. Eve”, John rumbled in his deep voice. “I think this one’s yours.” 

“He is indeed. Thank you, John.” Turning her attention back to her son, Eve added: “Good heavens, is that blood on your face?”

“It’s nothing.” Pulling up his nose, he grimaced as something hurt more than he wanted to admit. 

“Have you been fighting again?” 

“The others started it!” Dominic hissed. “Those damn morons deserved it, too.” 

At a complete loss of words, Eve stared at her son for a long, long moment. Seeing him like this hurt her more than anything else, and instantly all she wanted to do was go out there and beat up some school bullies for him. Having lost first his dad and then his home was putting Dominic through a hard time. And she couldn’t honestly chide him for getting into a fight when all she wanted herself was to grab a washing paddle and beat some sense into Mrs. Vonnebeker. 

“Go up to our room, clean yourself.” she finally said firmly. “We’ll talk about this later.”

“Yes, mum.” With sinking shoulders, he added: “The school director wants to talk to you, too. Tomorrow morning.”

Eve only nodded. What was there to say? That man was as narrow-minded as Mrs. Vonnebeker, and surely had no understanding for poor commoner boys who just happened to be fatherless, whip smart and going through a rough time. This was Espen, after all. Rules were more important than people. 

When her boy turned around and slunk out of the room, Eve almost winced. His school uniform’s jacket had a long tear in the back, the white shirt underneath dotted red. Those kids who had done this to her son should really make sure they never be in the same room alone with her again, or she would skin them alive, she swore silently.

Compared to her searing anger, it hardly registered that repairing the jacket to its proper state would set her back so much they would be living off stolen scraps from the breakfast buffet for the rest of the month.

Behind her, Mrs. Vonnebeker coughed pointedly. 

“Nice to have your attention again, Mrs. Eve,” she said once Eve had turned around. “I think it is clear to both of us that your conversation with the director will have to take place in your free time?”

Struggling for words, Eve blinked a few times before she could answer. Was that really the first thing that woman thought about when presented with a beaten, bleeding child? It was completely beyond Eve how any human being could be so callous. 

“Of course, Ma’am,” she replied evenly, surprising even herself. “Absolutely clear.”

Mrs. Vonnebeker nodded, and for a heartbeat, something like kindness came to her gray eyes. “That boy needs a firm hand, Mrs. Eve.”

That boy needed a lot of love and a sense of security and safety, Eve thought grimly. Just as his mother. 

“He needs a father.” 

What was that woman thinking?!

“And honestly, being alone isn’t good for a woman with your history either.”

“My history?!” Maybe she’d skip the washing paddle after all and just punch her straight in the face, Eve wondered. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“No need to act surprised, dear. We all know.”

“Know what?” 

“Why your last employer did not see any way to keep you in his household any longer.”

“I saved his fucking life!”

Shocked, Mrs. Vonnebeker leaned back in her chair, gasping. “Such obscenity. I am speechless.”

“Obviously not.” 

Eve was just about to reply something really sharp and honest as she heard another knock at the door. But turning around, she found the doorway empty and just the way Dominic and John had left it. Only when she heard that knocking sound again, she realized that it was all in her head. Luckily, she knew a little more about the psions’ guild than most people considered appropriate. 

\-- Yes? -- she thought firmly. 

\-- Mrs. Eve? -- a calm and very professional sounding woman asked. -- Please excuse the interruption, but I have a call here from Phoenix Knight Sir Yaden on P2, politely requesting to talk to you. --

Now that was startling news indeed. The only time she had met a Phoenix Knight before had been on that fateful night almost a year ago, right before she lost her job. Sir Milo hadn’t cared about propriety or status, he had just taken stock of the situation and decided that it was going to be Eve who decided what to do in the situation. And he had been right. No one had died that night, at least not after Sir Milo had finally beaten some sense into Eve’s employer. 

She liked Phoenix Knights a lot, since that night. 

\-- I’ll take the call, but I still have a conversation here that I need to finish. Will you please hold him for a moment? --

\-- Of course, Mrs. Eve. Just let me know when you are ready. --

In the outside world, less than two heartbeats had passed since the imaginary knock on the door. Mrs. Vonnebeker was still sitting in her chair, fanning herself in genuine shock. 

“Mrs. Vonnebeker?” Eve asked, her ire from only seconds ago completely under control again. “I have a call from the psions’ guild here that I’ll have to take, if that is okay with you?”

“Absolutely not! First you use four letter words around here, and now you try to weasel out of our conversation by -”

“It’s a Phoenix Knight from P2, requesting my attention,” Eve cut her off mid-sentence, noticing with grim amusement that Mrs. Vonnebeker seemed honestly insecure. No one would dare to lie about the involvement of a Phoenix Knight, and even if Mrs. Vonnebeker was an evil old hag, she couldn’t quite imagine Eve being that brazen. “I can tell him that you ordered me to reject the call, Ma’am, if you like.”

“Do what you have to do.” Mrs. Vonnebeker replied tersely. “But keep it short.”

“I will.” Sitting down on the only other chair in the room, Eve smiled politely. “Maybe you can take this up with one of the Phoenix Knight’s superiors while I talk.” 

Knowing perfectly well that she had just suggested Mrs. Vonnebeker to go and bug the Emperor, she delighted in her superior's furious expression a full second before she closed her eyes. 

\-- I am ready. -- 

Instead of a worded reply, Eve just sensed the mental image of a polite smile and something like a tip to the hat before she was patched through to Sir Yaden. 

\-- Mrs. Eve? -- His mental voice was deep and even, projecting calm and reassurance. She liked him already. -- I am Sir Yaden of the Phoenix Knights. Sir Milo sends his regards. --

The thought of Sir Milo made her smile. Young, dashing and very blond, he would have been every noble’s favorite son-in-law, if he hadn’t been so quick-witted, down-to-earth and entirely respectless at the same time. -- How is Sir Milo? --

\-- I honestly don’t know, he’s been on a mission for ages. He left a note here in our lounge that you were a very capable and tough woman, and that you might be looking for a decent job. Are you still searching, by any chance? --

\-- Oh you can bet your ass on that, -- Eve thought, only to cringe and blush instantly. -- Have I really thought that out loud, Sir? I have to apologize. --

But Sir Yaden only laughed, something that sounded imminently charming across their telepathic connection. 

\-- Please don’t worry, Mrs. Eve. It was very honest, and we all struggle with thinking neatly. -- Still smiling inwardly, Sir Yaden then asked: -- Would you mind if I sent you some entire memories of mine? I think that would make explaining the job I have to offer a lot faster. --

Eve had no clue what that meant, but she didn’t care much, either. If there was one thing she had learned during her brief episode as Phoenix Knight sidekick, then it was that worrying was completely overrated. You guessed, you tried, and if it failed, you damn well better instantly tried again before everybody around you got ripped to shreds. Worries were for people who had no real problems.

\-- Sure, -- she replied. -- Do I have to do anything special? --

\-- Just relax. --

So Eve did as she was told and tried to relax as far as that was possible today. And almost instantly, she remembered Sir Yaden having just bought an island in a sunny region of P2, to live there with his rapidly growing family. She remembered him showing the estate to his future husband, and talking to him about staffing the estate. She knew that Sir Yaden was looking for someone to organize the daily domestic work on the island, and that he had no clue what actually would have to be done and that he hoped Eve would be the one. 

\-- Alright, -- she sent as soon as she felt there were no more new memories coming. -- I can see that you need me. But if I take up your offer, my son is going to be living on the island, too. --

\-- You have a son? That’s great! -- Sir Yaden seemed genuinely charmed by the idea, and through their connection, it was doubtlessly clear that he loved children. And that nothing was further from his mind than the question if they were noble or commoner or slave children. -- How old is he? --

\-- Twelve years, now, Sir. He can work as a runner boy. -- Already, Eve knew that she would fight like a lion to get this job. Sir Yaden was everything that she ever wished for in an employer, and it seemed like the perfect environment for Dominic to grow up. -- Will you be having other staff? -- 

For a long moment, Eve only received the equivalent of static from Sir Yaden, a wildly indistinct cloud of thoughts, ideas and images. Then, finally, he explained: -- I think it’ll be part of your job to decide what we need. --

\-- So you basically offer me the post of the chamberlain of your estate? -- Eve asked, incredulous.

Again, there was a moment of hesitant static. -- I am not sure what that means. --

\-- The hadonra, castellan, majordomo? -- Eve tried the Jehanni, Andragor and imperial titles of the position. -- The servant who decides everything that the master of the manor does not? --

\-- That sounds pretty much like what I am looking for. --

\-- Oh. -- 

Normally, the post of chamberlain would have gone to a servant twenty years her senior, but Eve didn’t doubt for one moment that she was more than up to the task. She was just surprised anyone would see it that way, too, and didn’t care about how things like this were usually done. Had she already mentioned that she really, really liked Phoenix Knights? 

\-- Everything alright, Mrs. Eve? --

\-- Yes, Sir, absolutely. I could offer you a standard three-months contract right away, after that we can both decide if we want to continue our arrangement. --

\-- That sounds perfect. When can you start? --

\-- If you are willing to pay the flight from Espen to P2, we could be there in as little as five weeks. --

\-- Erm, no. Let me rephrase that: How soon can you be ready to travel? I’ll have you ported here right away. --

As a good Espener, Eve should have been worried now, deeply concerned at the idea of being dissolved into pure thought by some questionable guild psion and hurled through half of the Empire. But all she felt was slightly guilty excitement at the prospect. 

\-- We’d just have to pack, so I could be ready within two hours, maybe a little less? --

\-- Wow, that’s great. -- Genuine relief glittered on Yaden’s thoughts. -- I’ll have you picked up in two hours, then? --

\-- Shouldn’t you ask me about my salary first? --

\-- I don’t really care. --

\-- You should ask me, Sir. -- 

Smiling, Sir Yaden sent her the image of a nod and a feeling of respect for already starting to take care of his household, beginning with the orderly negotiation of her own contract. -- So, how much? --

\-- 200 credits a month, free food and housing for me and my son, including free training for him on all the tasks he’s to do. -- 

\-- Are you sure that’s enough? --

\-- Yes, Sir, I am. -- Already feeling that she could trust him unquestioningly, she added: -- It’s quite a bargain for a chamberlain, but quite outrageous for a servant of my age. --

Sir Yaden laughed gently. -- I can still pay you bonuses when I think you deserve it, can I? --

\-- I’d never dare to take that decision from you, milord. --

\-- So it’s settled then. I’ll have you picked up in two hours. --

\-- See you in two hours, milord. --

And as quietly as it had appeared, the telepathic connection to her new employer disappeared. 

She was still sitting in her chair in Mrs. Vonnebeker’s office, and judging by the way her superior was still sitting in the other chair, only a few moments could have passed, probably less than a minute. 

Looking at Mrs. Vonnebeker’s haggard face, Eve wondered what to say. She was one nasty woman, and all the abuse Eve had suffered at her hands was still very close to the surface. A part of Eve wanted to vent all that anger, to tell Mrs. Vonnebeker what a vile, pathetic person she was, that she hoped she would cry in shame every morning that she had to look at herself in the mirror. 

Another part of her still wanted to punch her in the face, flat out. 

But what would that achieve? In less than two hours, she would be gone, and hopefully never return to this place. Mrs. Vonnebeker would still be here, her life unchanged, only one tremendously diligent worker short in her team. 

“Mrs. Vonnebeker?”

“So you are finally done. Do you care to inform me what this mummery was all about?” 

“That is absolutely none of your business, Ma’am.” Two sentences in, Eve already found her patience sorely tested. “And before this goes on any longer than necessary - I quit.”

“What?” Mrs. Vonnebeker blinked, alarmed and confused. “You can’t quit like that!”

“I am afraid I just did, Ma’am.”

Seeing how worked up Mrs. Vonnebeker was getting at the development, Eve silently congratulated herself on the decision to stay calm. This was so much more fun. 

“Don’t you think you’ll get a milla more than what you’ve worked for!”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, keep this month’s pay, please.” Smiling coolly, Eve rose from her chair and took off the apron that identified her as a member of staff. “Just keep everything you might still owe me, and in return never bother me again.”

Pointedly setting down the apron on Mrs. Vonnebeker’s desk, she nodded politely. 

“Have a wonderful rest of your life, Mrs. Vonnebeker.”

“Won’t you at least tell me where you are going?”

Already half out the door, Eve stopped and turned around. 

“I am going away, Mrs. Vonnebeker.” Smiling like a shark, she said the one thing a proper Espener would never be caught saying in her life. “I am going on an adventure.”


	4. Chapter 4

The flames moved like a living creature, like a new-born blindly twisting and groping to find sustenance. They weren't the clean, pure heat Ivan had perceived them as when he had created them. Feeding on real matter, they had gained a wild component that was much harder to control than fire powered only by his will and he had trouble enough with that. After all he had only just started his lessons with Yaden.

Control was one of the items at the top item on Yaden's training list for him, closely followed by expanding his mental energy reservoir or as Yaden called it - training his psychic stamina. After those two the list went on and on. It seemed to Ivan that each time they trained together, Yaden added another three or four subjects that Ivan had no clue about and needed to learn.

Not that Ivan minded. He soaked up everything Yaden offered and demanded more. Colin was already complaining that Ivan was just as obsessed with training as Yaden. As far as Ivan could see it wasn't the same thing, though.

Ivan simply enjoyed every moment of being able to tap into his talents. It felt to him like he had been locked in a cave all his life and now was finally allowed to step outside, to breathe freely. It was like a drug.

Yaden was driven by the need to become better. Never mind that he already was one of the most powerful psions of their generation. He never seemed to dwell on the incredible things he could already do. Instead he was focused on the things he couldn't do. Or couldn't do yet.

At the very top of their to-do list in training, though, was teamed combat. The two times they had fought together - once against the organ traders and demons, and once on Shiraz - they had been as much a danger to each other as to their opponents. They had done that only once so far, but in the course of those three hours, Yaden had improved on his awareness of where Ivan was and what he was doing to a point that Ivan was sure he'd never get hit by a stray forklift truck again.

Finding out what kind of synergy effects they might be able to achieve was another item on Yaden's long list. One they both were extremely curious about, but it would have to wait until Ivan had refined his control over his powers.

Which brought him right back to the task at hand, which, as Yaden had cheerfully informed him, nicely doubled as training and useful application of his powers.

He was very slowly making his way down from the former servant quarters towards the mansion, clearing the path off the overgrown vegetation. It was like herding a flock of extremely volatile chicken, he thought with a grin, firmly reigning in a few flames trying to lick at a bush next to the path. So far, he had managed without any serious mishaps and he planned to keep it that way.

It was a pleasant exercise. It was great to be able to contribute to something definitely turning into a team effort. A team where assigned tasks were not determined by status, but by competence.

Colin and Darren were back at the palace, packing up their belongings.

Yaden and the new housekeeper currently were in the closest large city on the continent of Tamrien to pick up various supplies and buy a slave who could serve as caretaker for the estate. They had an amazing mix of abilities between all of them, but someone who knew his way with plumbing and electric appliances was definitely missing.

The housekeeper's son was busy cleaning up the big kitchen down in the mansion and readying some rooms for him and his mother to move into.

Myriam was cleaning out at the small cottages which Yaden and his family would move into. 

The thought made Ivan smile. He would be moving into his own little space up there. As part of the family. It felt good to belong. 

"VANYA?!" The scream shattered his concentration. It was Myriam's voice, filled with heart wrenching panic.

He just had the presence of mind to pull the flames he had so carefully cultivated back into himself before he sprinted up the already cleared path towards the cottages, his own heart beating frantically. There shouldn't be anything dangerous on the island. She should be safe. But she didn't sound safe and whatever was threatening her needed to be eradicated.

When he had first woken up from his mana-burned unconsciousness he hadn't been too thrilled that Myriam would be staying with them, adopted by Yaden. He had lived with a younger sister who was better at everything psionic than he had ever hoped to be for too long. The last thing he wanted was to share Yaden's attention with another, hugely talented pyrokinetic. That had lasted exactly until Myriam had begged his forgiveness for ever attacking him and he had seen how devastated she was not only for the fact that she had hurt him, but by everything that had happened to her.

She didn't need a jealous boy; she needed his support and protection.

That she clung to him with dogged stubbornness and quietly started imitating him in small ways was just as charming as the fact that she constantly sought his advice on how to better keep her own powers in check.

He came to skittering stop in the yard between the cottages, trying to locate where the scream had come from.

"VANYAAAAAAAAAA!" 

The cottage which had been designated to become the kitchen. Ivan crossed the yard in record time and burst into the large central room. The scene before him wasn't quite as life threatening as he had imagined from the volume and intense fear in Myriam's voice. Then again, it certainly seemed to look extremely life threatening to her.

She was huddled into one corner of the room, clutching the broom she had been using to clean and trying to hide behind it.

Her assailant was one of the weird little bear-rodent creatures who inhabited the island. They were a little bigger than a large cat, with red-brown fur, large ears, a bushy tail and plump bodies. They would have been quite cute if they didn't also sport sharp teeth and claws and a mean character. So far no one had been able to figure out whether they were native to the region, pests, or escaped pets of the previous owner of the island gone feral.

Ivan had had a run in with one earlier when he had smoked the little beast out of Colin's bread baking oven. The encounter had been brief and rather painful for both of them. The creature had scratched Ivan and he had retaliated by thoroughly singeing it. At least Colin's oven was now free of unwelcome squatters.

This didn't seem to be the same creature since its fur wasn't burnt. It sat on its haunches, its tail fluffed up and hissed and snarled at Myriam threateningly, swiping at her with its claws. Apparently, it had decided that the small human was easy prey.

With an angry snarl of his own Ivan spit the fire he had been forced to swallow so suddenly in a hot explosion at the beast. It wasn't hot enough to kill, but it charred the little monster thoroughly. It screeched in pain and shock and scuttled out of the cottage, narrowly dodging past Ivan, trailing smoke and the smell of burning fur.

For a moment longer, Myriam stared at the spot it had vacated, then she flung herself at Ivan with a sob, burying her face against his chest. Ivan wrapped his arms around the crying girl a little awkwardly at first, but when she burrowed against him, he just hugged her close and started making reassuring little sounds. Despite the fact that he had never done anything like this before, it wasn't hard at all.

"Are you okay?" he asked her when he finally calmed down a little. "Did it hurt you?"

With another sniffle she looked up at him, her eyes red from crying but also trying to craft a brave smile onto her face. "No. It… it just scared me… I guess…"

Ivan smiled back her encouragingly. "They are pretty fearsome alright." He agreed. "But you know, you could have just burned it…"

Her eyes went wide with horror at the suggestion. "But I'm not to hurt anyone!" she exclaimed. "Papa always said so. And Yaden, too!"

It brought back the fact to Ivan's attention that she was just a ten year old girl after all, no matter how powerful a psion she was.

"I think that doesn't apply to people or creatures trying to hurt you first." He gently explained. "But you better check that with Yaden." He added at her doubtful look.

"Okay." She agreed reluctantly, but then she smiled up at him brightly. "Thank you, Vanya. You saved me!"

Her words hit him like the zing from a shock collar. Now that Myriam wasn't screaming that name in panic, it brought with it a flood of memories, most prominently the sing-song voice of his sister Anita. Vanya, Vanya, Vanya, always followed with cruel mocking of whatever he had failed at. Why this memory still stung deeper than everything his relatives had inflicted on him later when he was a pet he didn't know.

"Don't call me that!" he hissed and quickly distanced himself from Myriam, wrapping his arms around himself.

For a moment she stared at him with uncomprehending hurt, but then her brow drew into a frown. "Did someone hurt you?" she asked with the uncanny insight only a child could possess.

Ivan tried to calm his breathing and his frantic heartbeat. She hadn't meant it to hurt him. She couldn't have. His first instinct was to deny everything, to pretend he was perfectly fine. But he wasn't and in Myriam's wide, worried eyes he read plainly enough that she knew.

"My… my sister called me that." He said.

"Oh." Myriam stepped up to him again and now it was her who wrapped him in an embrace. "Did something happen to her?" she asked hesitantly.

Ivan couldn't suppress a shaky laugh. "No. No, I'm sorry to say that nothing happened to her."

Now her frown sharpened and her voice suddenly had an edge he'd never heard from her before. "Did she hurt you?"

How to explain all that to a little girl? It wasn't right to burden Myriam with his past. A past that he wanted to stay buried as deeply as possible.

But Myriam had a very different view. "You don't have to worry about her hurting you anymore." She told him with a calm that was a scary mix of childish innocence and killer-psion confidence. "I'm your sister now and if I see her I will char her to the bone."

Apparently, the rule of not hurting people didn't apply when her family was threatened, Ivan thought with grim amusement. It was a sentiment he could relate to. He wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who tried to harm her. Or Yaden. Or any other of the family he had so unexpectedly acquired. 

He looked down at Myriam and then slowly hugged her back. "Thank you." He said softly.

She nodded with an expression as if they had just sealed a secret pact. Which, in a way, they had.

"And I won't call you Va… that name anymore." She added.

Ivan thought about that for a moment. Then he grinned at her. "You know, I think I don't mind if you call me Vanya, after all." He said. "You are now my sister and have a right to it. I'll just have to come up with a proper nickname for you, too."

Her eyes lit up with delight at the prospect. She definitely was the little sister he had always wanted and long ago stopped hoping for.

"How about we go check the other cottages to make sure there are no more of those little monsters around?" he suggested. "So you won't get ambushed again."

She smiled happily and slipped her hand into his. "That would be awesome."


	5. Chapter 5

“Shawn? Shawn, is that you?” 

Looking up from his obligatory late morning game of knucklebones, Shawn for a moment was hard-pressed to figure out who was yelling his name. 

“What the fuck are you doing here? Where have you been? Why aren’t you being sold with us?” 

The person had to be in the group of slaves that was just marched along Shawn’s cage. Trying to get a better view, Shawn stepped onto the wooden box that was their only proper furniture. It didn’t take him long to spot the man in question – a dirty slave in a simple loincloth with tattoos on his upper arms just like all the others of his bunch. He was looking over his shoulder at Shawn, and seemed vaguely familiar. 

“Hey, listen, you’re making a mistake! Listen, you fucks, that’s one of our unit, over there!” The slave yelled again, yanking his chains trying to get the attention of one of his handlers. “You can’t just send us to die and leave him there! HEY!”

Finally, the guards had enough of the commotion. With a few swift steps, the nearest guard was next to the yelling slave and hit him over the head with a short club. The guy sagged down on his knees, dazed and barely conscious, mercilessly dragged on by the others in his chain gang. 

Shawn followed them with his eyes until they passed a corner and disappeared between the cages and stalls that spread as far as the eye could see. The slave market of Tamriel wasn’t overly large, but it was one of the bigger ones. They were still on P2, after all. 

“Shawn?” This time, the voice came from the floor of the cage he was standing in. “It’s your turn.” 

Looking down into the faces of his fellow slaves, he smiled and stepped off his box. There was nothing left to see, anyway. Wordlessly, he walked over to the others and picked up the dice, sitting down on his pillow. While he considered maybe re-rolling at least two of the four dice, another slave re-filled his small glass of tea. Like every morning, it was sweetened mint tea, boring like hell, but quite a luxury compared to what the other slaves were getting. There were advantages to being a skilled householder slave, Shawn mused silently, and not just cannon fodder. 

“Does it still hurt?” one of his companions asked.

Shawn looked up. “What?”

“Your tattoos.” The man pointed at the squad tattoo Shawn had on his left upper arm, the one Shawn had been nursing ever since the scene with the yelling slave. Almost all that remained of his former unit. 

“Only when I am reminded.” Shawn replied honestly. Looking down on the dice, he took them all up and rolled again. A risky move, but there was nothing he could lose anyway.

“Now look at that,” he said, looking at the results. “Full house all the way.” 

“Seems to be your lucky day today.” 

“Yeah.” Snorting, Shawn handed the dice to the next player. “Maybe I’m being sold today.” 

“That’s not necessarily a good thing.” 

The whole bunch of them snickered softly. Being sold might be a risky thing, but the endless boredom of sitting in a cage on the market, waiting to be sold, wasn’t a life either. At least their trader was smart enough to treat them well and keep them clean. Shawn and the other household slaves in his cage would fetch a neat price from some noble soon enough. 

Until then, it would be mint tea and knucklebones ad nauseam. 

“Master Shawn?” a soft voice suddenly whispered. “Master Shawn, can you come over for a moment?”

Their whole group looked at the rag-clad boy crouching at the corner of their cage, urgently gesturing Shawn to come over. It was a kid that came over often to chat and share some of their tea, a scrawny kid with a limp and an ugly scar on his cheek.

“What’s the matter, Brambles? Can’t talk normal?”

“No. They mustn’t notice I am here.”

“Who?”

Instead of an answer, the boy only shot Shawn a ‘stupid grown-up’ look. Apparently running out of time, Brambles decided that he couldn’t wait for Shawn to come over and instead began his interview right there, whispering loudly across the cage. 

“You’re a gardener, right?” 

“Yes.” Shawn replied, silently wondering what kind of game the kids were playing today. There was a whole pack of urchins running freely around the market, earning the occasional milla and stealing every bit of food that wasn’t nailed down. “Why you askin’?”

“But before that, when you were a soldier, you repaired engines, yes?” 

“Yes, I told you those stories often enough. ”

“So you can do electric stuff and water pipes and such, yes?”

Shawn had to chuckle at the crude summation, but nodded. “Yes, fairly well. Nothing sophisticated, but I can patch up fairly everything that’s not a computer.”

Brambles nodded, looking mighty satisfied.

“One last question,” he intoned almost ritually. “Are you afraid of psychics?”

That was a superiorly odd question. Suddenly, Shawn remembered that the urchins were occasionally working as scouts for wealthy customers who were searching for something rather particular. 

“Is someone buying, Brambles?” 

Nervous, the kid shook his head, the finger on his lips and looking left and right as if trying to spot some potential spies. 

“No time, Master Shawn. Are you afraid of them psychics, Master Shawn?” 

Taking a deep breath, Shawn wondered what to reply to this. He had ever only met one of them, a specialist who had helped them during one of the skirmishes their previous owner had constantly provoked with his neighbors. He had been a nice guy, if a little on the sensitive and on weird side. Not that there hadn’t been enough weird guys in the standard forces, as well. 

Psions were odd, Shawn decided, with their powers no one but them could really assess. But scary? Guys with issues and a gun were scary. Being a simple soldier and never knowing the reasons for your orders was scary. Bored nobles were scary. 

Psions were just guys with odd talents. And being a guy with odds talents himself, Shawn really didn’t see anything scary in that. 

“No, Brambles, they don’t scare me.” Trying a reassuring smile, he added: “Now will you tell me what’s going on?” 

“Must hurry,” Brambles squeezed out and was already rushing away as fast as his scrawny legs would carry him. “Tell you all later!” 

The last words were already shouted from a distance, the boy disappearing between the stalls. 

“My, aren’t you in high demand today, ‘Master Shawn’,” one of his fellow slaves said with friendly mocking. “If it’s getting to much, just let me know, I can run a schedule and take your appointments.”

“Shut up.” Shawn replied, returning to their game. 

“It won’t be no hassle for me, haven’t got anything else to do besides that. And look, Barry here is quite handsome, he could entertain your visitors until you’re ready to see them.”

There really was no point in arguing, Shawn decided. The more he said, the more they would start to make a scene of it. So he just smiled, sat down and took up the dice again. 

They barely managed three more rounds before their game was disrupted again. 

It was the slaves in the other cages that alerted them that something was happening, their chatter and excitement rustling through the market like wind in the forest. Shawn and his fellow slaves barely had enough time to stand up before a whole gaggle of streetkids and other market parasites came around the corner and down the narrow alley towards their cage. 

The whole throng seemed to gravitate around two people in the middle, a woman dressed in black and a man with short brown hair. They had to be rather important to create such attention, Shawn decided, not really sure if that was a good thing or not. 

It turned out Brambles was leading them right to Shawn’s cage, his face a mix of excitement, insecurity and wide-eyed wonder that Shawn had never seen on him before. 

“Here he is, Sir!” the boy exclaimed almost reverentially, pointing at Shawn. “I think he’s what you’re looking for.”

Both the man and the woman turned their attention to Shawn, as did all the others who had come following them. The woman was wearing a black servant’s dress so prim and old-fashioned that she almost looked costumed. The man, on the other hand, wore brown leather pants and some sort of green wool shirt, an outfit that looked oddly familiar to Shawn. He could have sworn that he had seen that look already somewhere else. Only then he realized that the gold filigree on the man’s bracers wasn’t just some decorative scrollwork, but showed the imperial phoenix, its wings raised high as if taking flight. The sigil of the Phoenix Knights. 

With a cold, sinking feeling in his gut, Shawn’s eyes wandered to his left, where their cage leaned to the market’s outer wall that was encrusted with adverts for everything imaginable, from concerts over gladiator fights to whorehouse special offers. Rather prominently since a few days, there was a whole group of identical posters hanging, announcing the opening of a new movie - ‘Sir Yaden and the Demon Witches of Leichnam”. And the man right at the middle of said poster wore an outfit that was the spitting image of the one the man in front of his cage was wearing. The man who was smiling right at Shawn now with a deeply amused sparkle in his eyes. 

It was so mind-boggling that Shawn completely forgot to fall on his knees as he should have. 

“Well, seems the shop owner needs a little longer to show up.” Sir Yaden concluded. “Hi, I am Sir Yaden, and I am looking for a slave to help on my estate.” Smiling fatherly at Brambles at his side, he added: “Our local guide told me you’re a gardener?” 

“Yes, Sir.” Shawn’s answer came out a little more military than he would have liked, but at least his old reflexes kept him from stammering helplessly. A Phoenix Knight, here? 

“He also told me you know a thing or two about electricity and plumbing. Is that right?” 

“Sir, yes, Sir.” Taking a deep breath, Shawn forced himself to relax at least a little. “Sir, I am trained to repair ground vehicles, whether they run on steam, combustion engines or electricity.”

“Was that before or after you became a gardener?” Sir Yaden asked, more amused than doubtful. 

“Before.” 

“So what happened?” 

For a moment, Shawn was tempted to say something evasive, to gloss over some of the ugly facts. But he didn’t want to mess this up, he really didn’t. If that Phoenix Knight bought him or not, he wanted it to be for the right reasons. 

“I was pressed into service as a soldier for the owner of my estate, Sir.” Shawn started to explain. “I never wanted to fight, and mostly took care of our unit’s vehicles. I wasn’t a properly trained mechanic, Sir, but I helped out a lot. But our Lord was rather more aggressive than he was smart, and one day his whole estate was overrun by an alliance of neighbors that he had pissed off over all those years. We were caught mostly unaware and my unit and I were taken prisoners. Our new owner was short on staff, and occasionally, the ‘tame’ prisoners were pulled out of their cell to help. I... I really liked working in the gardens, Sir, working with the plants and living things, making things grow and bloom and look pretty. I became friends with the local staff, and when the Lord finally decided to sell off his prisoners, they first wanted to keep me, but he didn’t listen. But as a parting gift, though, they told him I would fetch much more credits if he sold me as a trained householder instead of a simple grunt. It was the nicest present I’ve ever got.”

By now, Sir Yaden smiled warmly and nodded. Looking to his side at the woman who had so far followed their conversation with an unchanging and stern expression, he asked: “What do you think, Mrs. Eve? Any questions?” 

“Show me your hands,” she ordered firmly, neither harsh nor friendly. 

Doing as he was told, Shawn raised his hands and held them out of the cage for Mrs. Eve to inspect. She took them with complete lack of sentimentality, like a craftsman inspecting a tool, running her thumbs over the calluses along the sides of his index fingers that the engine grime had stained dark in the cracks, over the tips of his fingers that were still bearing the occasional brown spot where a thorn tip was buried in his skin. Then she looked up and nodded, her eyes suddenly warm with something like honest respect. 

“His manners are atrocious, but he seems like a decent worker,” she declared firmly. “He’ll do.”

Now Sir Yaden smiled widely, turning his attention back to Shawn. “So, are you willing to work on a remote island for a family full of killer psions, demon bakers and what else I might still drag home from my missions?” 

Shawn just managed to nod as suddenly his trader appeared, flailing his arms and basically falling all over himself. 

“My Lord, my Lord! I am inconsolable! What an incredible lack of manners on my side! How could I not notice the presence of someone so exalted, so benevolent and heroic! I must have been - “ Then finally, he noticed that Sir Yaden didn’t seem lost, but instead rather deep in conversation with one of his slaves. Instantly, his expression changed from apologetic to attentive. “Have you found something that interests you, milord?” 

“Indeed I have,” Yaden replied with a soft chuckle. “How much for this one?” 

“Oh, he’s a fine one, that Shawn, isn’t he? You must know, milord, he’s not only - “

“Cut it,” Mrs Eve ordered, her voice carrying such clear command that she didn’t even have to get loud. “Just a figure, please. We’ve got a lot of work to do.” 

For a moment, the trader seemed completely out of stride, his mouth working soundlessly. 

“What about, say, twenty-five credits?” Yaden finally suggested, still smiling. It was a good sum for a householder, nothing great, but definitely good.

“Milord, that is...” The trader finally snapped out of his surprise and sobered up almost instantly. “He’s worth at least thirty-seven.”

“Twenty-seven.”

“Thirty-five.”

“Twenty-seven, and I’ll be smiling extra nice on the picture you’re going to take of the two of us when I come to the market the next time.” 

The trader blinked, his eye bulging as he realized what Sir Yaden was offering. “Deal.”

They both shook hands, sealing the deal. Immediately, the trader opened the cage and led Shawn out to stand next to Mrs. Eve. 

“Welcome to our team,” Sir Yaden said warmly, shaking Shawn’s hand. “Mrs. Eve, would it be alright if I’d leave you here to sort out the financial stuff while I show Shawn the estate? So maybe we can come back right away and buy some equipment for him?” 

Mrs. Eve just nodded, but Shawn could see now that she was almost as excited as he was himself. She was eager to work, and apparently there was a hell of a lot of work to be done. And Sir Yaden seemed to be just the kind of master who’d rather empower his staff to work as they saw fit instead of giving arbitrary orders. This all seemed almost too good to be true. 

“You’re ready, Shawn?” 

“Ready for what?” 

“Ready for port?”

“I – uh – yes.” Waving a shy good-bye at the other slaves in the cage, he was wondering where this was going to lead. “Ready for port, Sir.” 

“Don’t be shocked, it’s a mess.” Yaden informed him, smirking, while he put his hand on Shawn’s shoulder. “Oh, right." He reached into his pocket and flipped a full credit towards Brambles, who nimbly caught it out of the air and hugged it close. 

And then, suddenly, they were standing on a gravel path covered with ash and smoldering bits of charred twigs, in the middle of a completely overgrown island. 

“Welcome to your new home,” Yaden said with a wide smile. “Isn’t it beautiful?”


	6. Chapter 6

The sun slowly rose, turning the horizon into a spectacle of colour. With the sea calm and the sky nearly cloudless apart from a few pale wisps now drenched in rose, there really wasn't anything to distract from it.

Still, Yaden only spared an occasional glance. His full attention was on the sand. All his senses told him that it would be white, once it was fully dried, but he couldn't be entirely sure until he had actually seen it by the light of day.

He stood at the centre of the beach of the newly formed lagoon in calm concentration, his toes curled in the sand, sifting and sorting through it with his mind. By now it was just a matter of shifting out the tiny shells, crayfish and other sea creatures he had missed on his previous passes. He couldn't touch them with his mind of course, but the grains around them obediently shifted to carry them back out to sea.

With a smile he thought that he would probably be able to do this in his sleep now. For the last three hours, it had been pretty much all he did - sorting sand. A little boring, but also a wonderful exercise to keep his mind focused on controlling a million individual particles at once instead of simply grabbing earth as a whole.

The first rays of the rising sun touched beach now and Yaden eagerly watched. He had carefully picked this spot so the beach would have direct sun in the morning and afternoon but would lie in the shade of the high rising cliff of the island behind him in the evening.

The warmth of the sun on the sand ran through him like a caress with his mind still so firmly fused to the material he had build the beach from.

It had been a long night. First he had waited until he was sure that everyone was asleep. Then he had sneaked out of the cottage which he and Colin had claimed as their bedroom, where they slept on a comfortable nest of several mattresses with a heap of blankets and pillows. Getting proper furniture was an ongoing project and happening on a basis of getting first what they needed most. The huge stone table in the yard under the old olive tree where they all ate together had been the first thing Yaden had crafted.

That had been a very minor project compared to what he had done this night. The island was perfectly beautiful, but the one thing it had been lacking was a proper lagoon and beach. It would have been an astronomically expensive endeavour to add one. Unless, of course, one was able to do it with pure willpower.

After carefully scouting the island the last few days he had settled on the south-eastern tip for his changes. The really tricky part was that he had to get it right in one try over night or it wouldn't be a surprise for the rest of the family anymore. And of course, doing it so gently they didn't wake up from him shifting several hundred tons of matter to create a perfect little cove.

The first step had been to pretty much take a huge bite out of the island, leaving a slim promontory in the south to protect the new lagoon from the relentless hunger of the waves. After all, he didn't plan on filling the beach up with sand again every night. Then he had carved a comfortable, serpentine path into the cliff's face which was now much closer to the cottages, leading down from there to the new beach. He guessed that was what a sculptor would feel when he formed the first rough outline of the figure he wanted to find in the stone. The whole process had been fairly quick.

Details had taken much longer. Getting the slope of the land just right so it looked natural and fit with the rest of the island had been hard. He had done what felt like a thousand flyovers checking and re-checking from every possible angle how it looked.

He had also used the opportunity to familiarize himself with the island and the surrounding seafloor. After all it would be the home for him and his family and he wanted it to be safe and sound. He had been pleased to find that the roots of the island ran deep and true. The next undersea faultline was far to the north where two continental plates where ever so slowly drifting apart.

P2 was a calm and content planet from Yaden's point of view. To him, each planet came with a personality of its own. P2 was like a middle aged housewife who effortlessly managed her family and her social life and had an aversion to change. A lot of old Earth plants and animals had been transplanted here when the planet was first settled by humans, but it had never needed any terraforming to make it habitable. P2 was welcoming in general, but rather indifferent to what exactly the tiny creatures crawling around on it did.

A vast difference to Yaden's home planet of Pandora. She was more of a hysterical teenager to Yaden. She had been entirely uninhabitable when she was first discovered. An extensive terraforming effort had been begun to make her a home to humans. It had progressed far enough to start settling. Then the end of the Gilded Republic had cut Pandora off from contact with other systems. The terraforming engines had worked without proper maintenance for a while longer. Then they had broken down one by one. The incomplete terraforming was like a thorn in the planet's side which she could never quite dislodge, no matter how hard she shook herself. Her suffering had been Yaden's constant companion in his youth.

Added to that was another kind of pain. Yaden wasn't entirely sure why, but Pandora was unusually aware of the people inhabiting her. She had an almost motherly disposition towards them and each time she thrashed in her pain she afterwards mourned the damage she had done. Yaden had the creeping suspicion that it was his fault she had gained this awareness since his mind and emotions had so strongly become entwined with the planet of his birth through constantly shaping parts of her with his will.

Moving away from Pandora had felt like abandoning her. The Emperor had paid dearly for Yaden becoming one of his Phoenix Knights though. Top scientists had been dispatched to restore the terraforming engines and complete the process. Yaden hadn't been back to Pandora to check how that was going. Terraforming was a slow process under the best of conditions and most of the knowhow had been lost in the Dark Ages.

To him, it wasn't an acceptable solution. He hadn't even told Darren this, but he owed it to his people there and to Pandora herself to heal her. But he would have to become a lot stronger before he could attempt such a monumental task with realistic chances of success. There were a hundred different skills that still needed to grow and be refined and most importantly he had to be able to channel vast amounts of energy through himself, not to mention that he had to get them from somewhere. Mere eating wouldn't solve that problem.

With thoughtful curiosity he stretched his mind over the surface of the beach, revelling in the warmth of the sun. That was a kind of energy, too. There was no reason why he shouldn't be able to soak up the warmth and light to fuel his powers just like a plant would. He just needed to figure out how.

Not today, though.

With his senses so thoroughly submerged in the island he noticed that there was movement up at the mansion. Light but firm footsteps gave Mrs. Eve away. Like Yaden, she was an early riser and like Yaden, she enjoyed working.

At first, Yaden hadn't been sure if it really was a good idea to bring in an Espener to his fledgling household. After all, they were known to be the most conservative people in the Empire. But the fact that Sir Milo had recommended her in the brief looking-for-job note on the notice board in the Phoenix Knight lounge had prompted him to at least give her a call.

After all, Sir Milo was about as far from conservative as one could get, being a male Cournicova who was allowed to run around unsupervised by his female relatives and a psion on top. He and Yaden were the newest knights in the Phoenix Order and the only psions. Milo was a 'shadow-roamer', someone able to step through shadows and manipulate them to do all sorts of creepy things. Even Yaden considered Milo's talents strange and incomprehensible. But Milo was also a charming young man with infectious cheer, so they got along just fine.

Getting a sense of Mrs. Eve in their brief telepathic communication had been enough to assure Yaden that she would be perfect. Firm and calm but still full of curiosity, she would be able to bring some order to the barely contained chaos of his little family. She and Colin had clicked instantly, much to Yaden's delight. Knowing that Colin would have plenty of people to keep him company and occupied when Yaden had to leave for missions was a great relief.

Shawn had been another lucky find. The man loved to work and took great pride in his craftsmanship. That he wasn't daunted by the sheer amount of work the island held was definitely as much a bonus as his complete lack of worry about working for a psion.

Yaden had a feeling that they would mesh well with his weird little family.

They would also make sure that Myriam wouldn't keep growing up isolated from any human contact like she had so far. Yaden had done some checking on her father and apparently he had been on the run with Myriam for over six years since her mother had died. He had been right in his gut feeling that the Psions Guild had somehow fucked up.

Myriam's mother had been a low level telepath and had worked for the guild. They had put her under too much pressure which had resulted in her growing more and more erratic. Then they had tried to fix her up with meds. Something had gone wrong with that as well and she ended up committing suicide. Her angry husband had threatened to go public and the Psions Guild had in turn panicked and put a reward on his head on fabricated charges.

It was a mess.

Yaden had briefly contemplated poking that bee hive, but then decided against it. It was heartache that no one needed. They had no way of getting to Myriam now. The matter of adopting her had been completed before she woke up again on that day Yaden had brought her home.

He knew she was still grieving and he encouraged it. If she just buried her emotions they would some day come back to haunt her. Better to live through them now with all their support. Luckily she had taken a liking to Ivan and was following him around like a loyal puppy. Even more luckily, Ivan seemed to have adopted her as a little sister and was protecting her quite fiercely.

Overall he was quite happy with her progress.

With a little sigh Yaden slowly extracted himself from the island. It felt a little like a tree growing in reverse, pulling back all the fine roots and tendrils his mind had put down. It was time to go back up to the cottages and show his family what he had created for them. He very much hoped they would like it. But even if they didn't like his beach, he was very sure that he would keep enjoying it. When he had been younger, he would have been a nervous wreck by now, worrying that he had somehow misjudged what they would enjoy. He smiled ruefully. He really had come a long way in his self-confidence. Darren really could be proud of himself for that.

When he reached the yard between the cottages, Colin was just emerging from their bedroom, yawning and stretching, wearing nothing but his sleep shorts, his hair a rumpled mess. For a moment, Yaden just stood there, watching his lover sleepily turn his face to the sky and smile up at the sun. He was the most beautiful thing Yaden could imagine.

Then Colin noticed him. "My, you look tired." He commented surprised. "Didn't you sleep well?"

"Actually I didn't sleep at all." Yaden answered with a smirk. "I have a gift for you and the rest of the gang."

Colin's brief frown at the confession that he hadn't slept evaporated at the idea of a gift. "Oh? What is it?" he asked.

Yaden considered his lover for a moment. He had wanted to show all of them at once, but taking just Colin down to the lagoon for a kiss on the beach held its own appeal. It reminded him of the long, quiet walks on the shore of Hagermarsh where they had first met and fallen in love. Of course this beach wasn't long enough for such walks but it sure was a lot warmer and prettier.

With a light tap of his foot Yaden pulled up a slab of stone from the ground and gestured invitingly. "Hop on board, love."

Colin didn't hesitate, by now quite familiar with Yaden's preferred method of travel. Yaden step up onto the rock behind Colin and gently embraced him from behind to steady him. "Now close your eyes. It isn't far."

"Okay… eyes are closed." Colin laughed and snuggled back against Yaden. "I'm getting really curious now."

With a curl of his toes, Yaden gently lifted the rock into the air and steered it towards the new lagoon. He briefly contemplated setting them down on the beach, but then he instead picked a spot slightly above the cliff which gave a perfect view of the whole cove. He couldn't help but grin proudly when he looked down at the drying sand and noticed that it was indeed as white as he had hoped it would be. The endless hours he had spent hauling it up from the seafloor had not been wasted.

Yaden took a moment longer to position them just right. Then nudged Colin's neck with his nose. "You can look now." He whispered into his lover's ear. He knew exactly when Colin opened his eyes as he suddenly went completely still in Yaden's arms and sucked in a startled breath.

"Oh my god." Colin whispered, sounding as awestruck as Yaden had hoped he would. "Did you…? Of course you did…" He remained motionless and Yaden could almost feel him drinking in the view. "This is so beautiful." He finally said softly. "Can we… go down…?"

His praise made the missed night of sleep worth it. Yaden lowered the rock and then set it down on the beach near the end of the path that led up to the cottages. Colin stepped off it and then laughed with delight as his naked feet touched the soft sand.

"Do you like it?" Yaden still had to ask, just to hear it out loud.

"Like it?" Colin snorted another laugh and turned back to him, his eyes sparkling with plain happiness. "I love it. This is…" He spread his arms encompassing not just the new lagoon but the whole island. "This is wonderful. Perfect. It's home."


End file.
